Went to a Sharepoint User Conference in CA and there was an amazing speaker who shared some interesting points about Sharepoint implementation as a records management tool.  I summarized as concisely as I could for those of you who might be making that journey...

Six Habits of Highly Successful Sharepoint Customers :    When traveling the path of the Sharepoint journey....

*          Determine your current reality...where are you today?

*         Where do you want to be?

*         Create a plan.

*         Recruit your team.  Know the kind of resources and expertise that you need.  Make sure your team understands the product well and does not have limited or skewed knowledge of Sharepoint.


1.        Put the user first.  The end goal is not to implement Sharepoint, but to enhance the user environment.  If you take the time upfront to understand what the business needs and deliver it, you wouldn't have to convince, cajole, push, or lure them to use the system (Craig Roth, Burton Group)  However, people resist change  because they don't care about records management and will take what they believe is the easiest route possible to solve a problem.  Nob ody "wants" records management, a corporate portal, or the internet.  They just want to get their problem solved as easily as possible.  Give people what they want, but also teach them what is available and why it is important.  Create incentives.  (www.whyiusesharepoint.com<http://www.whyiusesharepoint.com>).   Create a simple identity.  Example...The Cupboard...Ignite! SharePoint Training.  Perception is everything.  You can even have a SIM hosts on the site, interesting visuals, and tons of self-help video.

2.       Governance is not a feature...it is about a process, the people and a policy.  Sharepoint has a lot of moving parts, so you have to understand all three before deciding how to configure the software in order to achieve a state of governance.  Common Approach Pyramid (T to B): Central Portal, Division Portals, Groups and Teams, Projects and Workspaces, MySites.  There is CONTROL at the top three levels, and EMPOWERMENT in the bottom two levels.

3.        Architecture is key.  Rebuilding adds costs.  If deployment is messy...STOP.  Take the pain earlier than later.  Know what it is that you want to build and take the time and resources to do it right.  Plan for long term success.  Know where you want to be.  Get the right kit to make sure hardware and software choices deliver what the user expects...example, how fast pages load.

4.       Use all the tools in the box.  Security, Discovery, Records Manager, Governance and Compliance, Taxonomy, Rights Management are all tools that manage the information stored in the Content Repository.  Keep the user experience in the forefront at all times and how they will interact with everything...with regard to their MS Office Tools, Communication Tools, Intranet/Extranet or Team Sites, Social Tools, Search Tools, Collaboration Tools.  Consider how you will program forms, workflows, composite applications, and other LOB Systems.

5.       Deliver Solutions.  Information Workers use out of the box capabilities with configuration and customization.  Power Users rapidly deploy business solutions without having to write code.  IT Managed solutions are created, coded, or customized by IT Users.

6.       Prepare for the future.  Build your information management strategy around what your organization needs to be successful in the future.  Keep an open mind as to what is possible given that technology is reaching new horizons.  You can always improve, tune, and tweak.

SO, SHAREPOINT IS THE ANSWER...WHAT WAS THE QUESTION?

Most IT people purchase SharePoint to address management of structured and unstructured information.  Users could care less about records management.  They will not manage records in SharePoint unless it is EASIER than what they currently do to manage records (if they manage records at all).  The smartest approach is to use SharePoint to make the process easier and, as a byproduct, manage records at the same time.  So, information professionals who understand the relationship between information stewardship and business value are increasingly becoming important.

Challenge today for CIOs is how the risk and cost of a solution weighs against the rewards and engagement (...from a user perspective...given finite resources, with little disruption to the business, with simplicity for knowledge users who sometimes consider SharePoint "voodoo in a box".

Choose an area of low risk and high value...like finance or payroll...that people will care about.  Remove old processes when implementing new ones to discourage resistance to cooperation and compliance.  For example, refuse to store paper records or destroy them after putting them online.  Or, require justification for ordering a paper file when the file is already online.  Select pilot projects that are big, but not TOO big.

Approaches are:
Department by Department (all records)
Process by Process (within one department or across multiple)
Strategic Content shared by multiple Departments

Most successful approach takes into account WHERE YOU ARE TODAY and WHERE YOU WANT TO BE.

WAYS TO USE POWERPOINT TO SAVE MONEY

*         Bar code tracking system to track point of arrival, departure, time of damage, etc.

*         Automated Expense Report with batch processing.  Receipts are scanned and attached.

*         Automated Capture Dashboard Monitoring System.

*         Automated interface where all of the work is done in Sharepoint.

*         Automated Workflow all in Sharepoint

*         Barcode generation for scanners

*         Online approval for electronic documents.


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